Gov. David Paterson said in a Web announcement this morning that he is submitting legislation to lawmakers that would give him executive authority to make the reductions necessary to close the state’s $3.2 billion mid-year budget gap.

Paterson and lawmakers have been unable to reach an agreement with the governor on how to close the deficit. This is the third week the Legislature is holding special sessions called by Paterson.

The governor said in a Web address this morning that the executive-authority option “would give me, as governor, a one-time authority to close the current-year budget deficit — to maintain New York’s strong credit rating and keep our state afloat.”

“I want to make clear that this is not a cash-flow problem that can be fixed with one-shots or creative accounting. This is a lack-of-cash crisis that threatens the financial stability of our state. Unless we take action, the state will run out of money,” he said.

Under the governor’s legislation, there would be $1.3 billion in payment reductions to education, health care and other areas.

Members in the Democrat-led Assembly are in private conference to discuss Paterson’s legislation and plan to resume special session at 3 p.m. In the Senate, which has 32 Democrats and 30 Republicans, lawmakers agreed to work together on an agreement. They said they need time to go through Paterson’s voluminous bill.

Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, said there may be some disagreements on cuts, but everyone understands they need to work in a bipartisan manner and reach an agreement within the next several days. He said he would work to have a bill ready to go for a vote on Monday.

“And (Majority Leader) John (Sampson) and I have had this discussion that battle will come as we approach 2010 (elections), but right now our responsibility is to get a deficit-reduction plan done and to restore the integrity quite frankly of this chamber, and we will get it done,” Skelos said.

Sampson, D-Brooklyn, and Skelos have both said they would not support any mid-year education cuts, something Paterson has proposed.

Sampson said there are concerns about making cuts to education institutions, “which have a tremendous impact economically in our communities, but most of all having school districts making decisions during this period of time as to whether or not they can survive and pass those cuts along to our constituencies with respect to property taxes.”

After originally saying they would take the weekend to complete negotiations and prepare legislation, lawmakers and Gov. David Paterson ended the day Monday without an agreement on how to close the state’s $3.2 billion budget gap.

“I believe the best way to say it is we’ve had the same stumbling blocks today as we’ve had for the last couple weeks,” Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, Ontario County, said after emerging from a private meeting with legislative leaders and the governor Monday evening.

Monday marked the start of the third week of special legislative sessions the governor called to resolve the budget deficit. It was unclear Monday whether Paterson and lawmakers would reach an agreement before Thanksgiving.

“I don’t want to hold people for Thanksgiving, but whatever it takes to make this process work I will consider,” Paterson told reporters at an event in Niagara Falls Monday.

The governor offered a $3.2 billion deficit-reduction plan. It would cut about $1.3 billion, including $686 million from education and $471 million from Medicaid. That would result in a total Medicaid reduction of $747 million due to a loss in federal matching funds.

Senate Democrats and Republicans said they oppose mid-year cuts to education. Paterson has said any deficit-reduction plan must include education cuts.

Senate Republicans are asking for the state to use $391 million of next year’s federal stimulus money to avoid having to cut school aid. They said Paterson first proposed using some of next year’s stimulus funding for education.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said after the leaders meeting that his members agree with the governor that cuts are necessary.

“Nobody likes to make serious cuts to anything, but the reality is, the fiscal situation, is that you have to make cuts so many of my members are prepared to make the right choices,” he said.

New York Inspector General Joseph Fisch is recommending that disciplinary action be taken against three supervisors in connection with the “man cave” in one of the state parking garages in Albany. Poor oversight by Office of General Services managers Thomas Casey, William Liston and Dennis Williams contributed to drug abuse and other “transgressions” at the Empire State Plaza garages, according to Fisch.

Earlier this month, Gary A. Pivoda, 48, of Glennon Road in Latham (an Albany suburb) and Louis Marciano, 50, of Willow Street in Rensselaer pleaded guilty to defrauding the government for allegedly selling and using drugs, watching television and sleeping in the concealed “man cave” between April 17 and July 14, 2009. They were night maintenance employees for the state.

Fisch’s report today said the three managers did not address repeated complaints about Marciano, who was the cleaning crew boss. Marciano was accused of discriminating against African-American employees and addressing them with racial slurs. Marciano was said to have assigned one janitor extra work to cover for Pivoda, and he gave Pivoda annual “incentive” bonuses totaling $3,000, according to Fisch.

Pivoda and Marciano, who resigned as part of their plea agreeents, are scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 4. Pivoda will serve a year in jail and pay $2,076 in restitution. Marciano will receive five years of probation, do 250 hours of community service and pay $1,504 in restitution.

The Office of General Services has agreed to implement Fisch’s recommendations and take administrative action against employees and supervisors who were derelict in their duties. The agency will require that Plaza managers receive more training, Fisch’s office said.

Former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno’s federal corruption trial is expected to wrap up today, and it will be up to the jury to decide his fate. Prosecutors charged he received more than $3 million from businesses in exchange for his political influence at the state Capitol between 1993 and 2006.

Bruno, a Republican from Brunswick, Rensselaer County, has maintained his innocence. He has noted that the job of lawmaker is part time and legislators are allowed to have outside income.

The prosecution has argued that Bruno defrauded the state and its residents by entering into and trying to enter into financial agreements with people or companies that had or were pursuing business with the Legislature or state agencies.

The charges were the result of a three-year investigation into Bruno, who resigned from the Senate last year.

A Marist College poll released today found that 71 percent of voters think state government needs major changes, and 18 percent think daily operations at the Capitol need minor changes. Eleven percent believe state government is broken and beyond repair, according to the poll.

“Albany is not a good place for politicians right now,” Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Poll, said in a statement. “Voters are dissatisfied with how things are being run and want change.”

While Paterson’s approval rating is 20 percent among registered voters, just 16 percent of them think the Senate is doing an excellent or good job and 48 percent think the it is performing poorly, the poll found. Forty-four percent said they would vote for the incumbent and 42 percent said they would pick a challenger.

In the Assembly, 13 percent of voters approve of the job members are doing and 47 percent do not. Forty-four percent of voters said they would support the incumbent if the 2010 elections were held today and 43 percent said they would opt for a challenger, the poll said.

After saying they would take the weekend to complete negotiations and print a bill, lawmakers and Gov. David Paterson are beginning the new week without a plan to close the state’s $3.2 billion budget gap.

Both the Senate and Assembly are scheduled to go into session at 2 p.m.

Paterson had harsh words for legislators during a news conference Saturday and in an open letter he released Sunday, emphasizing that New York is running out of time to fix the budget.

“Unfortunately, this failure to act has put New York at risk for a number of dire fiscal consequences and raised serious questions among independent financial monitors,” he wrote.

The governor has warned that the state might run out of money next month if the Senate and Assembly don’t make spending cuts. Potential consequences include furloughs, layoffs, service cuts in pre-kindergarten programs and other areas, and a downgrade of the state’s credit rating.

The governor offered a $3.2 billion plan to close the deficit, which includes about $1.3 billion in cuts — $686 million from education this school year and $471 from Medicaid, which would result in a total reduction of $747 million because the state would lose federal matching funds.

But lawmakers don’t want to cut school aid in the middle of the year and want to slash health care by about $100 million, which Paterson said doesn’t work for him.

The governor proposed reducing the school cuts by using some of next year’s federal stimulus funds for education. Senate Republicans said the state should use $391 million of the stimulus money. The governor argued that using that much would push the problem to a later date and leave a hole in school spending in 2010-11.

New York State United Teachers, which has 600,000 members, has launched an advertising campaign against mid-year cuts to education.

Senate Republicans today put the blame on Gov. David Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, for failing to get a budget deal complete.

“1 agree with Governor Paterson’s statement today that the Legislature should be acting on a deficit reduction plan today, instead of waiting until Monday. The only problem is he has not submitted a bill we can act on, as Senate Republicans called on him to do Thursday,” said Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County.

When asked today why he hasn’t put his budget-cutting plan up for a vote, Paterson said he has. They can vote on it any time they’d like, he said.

Skelos said that Senate Democrats and Republicans have agreed on budget actions that would reduce the budget deficit by $2.6 billion, as opposed to Paterson’s $3.2 billion plan.

“The only roadblock to an agreement is Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver who has yet to publicly issue a single proposal to reduce state spending,” Skelos stated.

“When Democrats left Albany, Republicans stayed at the Capitol, ready to go into session to pass a plan,” Skelos said. “The governor should stop pounding the table, do his job and stop worrying about his poll numbers so that we can get a final agreement. ”

After a total of 1,089 state employees received authorization by mid-November to retire with a $20,000 severance payment, Gov. David Paterson’s Division of the Budget is extending the program until Jan. 20 to see if the state can get more participation.

Paterson ordered a total of $500 million in mid-year budget cuts at state agencies, part of his strategy to close a $3.2 billion budget gap. Agencies can offer the severance packages as a means of helping them make the reductions.

“It has come to our attention that thousands of employees expressed an interest in participating in the program, but certain agencies chose not to accept these employees into the program,” Budget Director Robert Megna wrote in a letter to commissioners.

“As you are aware, the State continues to face serious fiscal challenges. To address this situation, the Governor has instructed agencies to aggressively offer severances to reduce the State workforce and maximize savings,” Megna wrote.

Megna said commissioners should “make every effort to increase the utilization of the Severance Program.” Employees have to file applications under the extension by Dec. 22.

The Budget Division doesn’t have final numbers of how many employees ultimately took the buyout but expects to know sometime around the beginning of next month, said Matt Anderson, Paterson budget spokesman.Agency Severance Letter

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo would get the support of 72 percent of registered voters in the state in a primary against Gov. David Paterson, according to a Marist College poll released today. Twenty-one percent of voters would select Paterson, who plans to run for election next year.

“Right now, Andrew Cuomo has a clear path to become governor,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College poll. “If he could fast-forward to next November, I’m sure he would.”

The poll is being released a day after Republican officials confirmed that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is not going to run for governor. The poll found that Cuomo has a lead over former U.S. Rep. Rick Lazio in addition to Paterson. Lazio is the only Republican who has announced he is running for the seat.

If Lazio ran against Cuomo today, Cuomo would win by a 3-to-1 margin — 69 percent to 24 percent, the poll found. If Lazio ran against Paterson, 44 percent of the electorate would support Paterson and 44 percent would choose Lazio. Twelve percent are undecided.

Cuomo has not announced whether he intends to run and Paterson has said he will stay in the race, despite his paltry poll numbers.

Marist found that 63 percent of registered voters don’t want Paterson to run for governor and 30 percent want him to be in the race. In a Marist poll two months ago, 63 percent of voters surveyed said they wanted Paterson to drop out and 25 percent wanted him to continue his campaign.

When asked about Paterson’s extensive television media campaign, 65 percent of voters who had seen one of the ads said Paterson should not run for governor.

Sixty-six percent of voters think Cuomo is doing an excellent or good job and 6 percent said he is doing poorly. Paterson is at the other end of the spectrum. One-fifth of registered voters think he’s doing an excellent or good job and 35 percent said he is performing poorly. That’s better than a few months ago, when 17 percent approved of his performance and 44 percent said he was doing poorly.

Marist surveyed 805 voters Nov. 12 and this Monday and Tuesday. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percent.

With the state facing a cash crunch, Gov. David Paterson warned today he may have to resort to steps that other states have taken — such as layoffs, furloughs or shutting down pre-kindergarten program — if lawmakers don’t make budget cuts this month.

A report from Moody’s Investors Service this week, meanwhile, said the state could lose its stable credit rating “if there is no action taken by the state to close the gap, or if action is taken but is largely one-time in nature (therefore increasing the structural imbalance in the out years).”

Paterson is at odds with lawmakers over cutting aid to schools and health care to help close a $3.2 billion mid-year budget gap. After four days of failed negotiations in Albany, lawmakers went home Thursday and plan to return Monday.

But Paterson continued his tough talk today against legislators who don’t want to make cuts. He said spending reductions now would also help lower the deficit next fiscal year, which he estimated may be at $9 billion. The current fiscal year expires March 31.

Come late December, the state faces running out of money if cuts aren’t made, he and other state officials said. That means the state would have to borrow and possibly delay payments to local governments in schools.

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli warned today that the state faces a $1.4 billion cash deficit next month. Paterson said that if all the state’s money was pooled together next month and all the bills were paid, the state would have about $30 million in the bank – a remarkably low amount for a state with a $132 billion budget.

Without close the budget gap, Paterson said New York would have resort to what other states have done, such as laying off state workers, instituting unpaid weeks off or even eliminating programs, such as early childhood programs and pre-kindergarten classes.

“I’ve been telling you what happened in the other states,” Paterson told reporters this morning. “That’s what we’re going to have to do. I told you that 26 states shut down their early childhood education and pre-kindergarten programs, and that’s what we’re going to have to do.”

Paterson said he spoke to legislative leaders this morning to advise them of the dire predictions. But he said lawmakers have so far offered no cuts to schools and only about $100 million in cuts to health care. Paterson has proposed about $1.3 billion in cuts.

“I think this is a lot more serious than the interest of some of the legislators who would rather go home and be heroes saying look I didn’t cut school aid or look I didn’t cut health care,” Paterson said.Nys Go Report 1109

James Lawrence has, for the past 14 years as Editorial Page editor, been responsible for producing more than 5,100 daily Editorial and Speaking Out pages. He started his journalism career in Cleveland shortly after graduating from Howard University in Washington, D.C. Along the way, he has had career stops in Denver, Orlando, Fla., and White Plains. But unquestionably, he says, some of his most rewarding years as a journalist have been here in Rochester, being a part of positive change. That change has included reforms that followed an aggressive “Challenging Albany” campaign, greater public awareness and pushback against the coarsening of our culture, and strides being made to make this region a destination community.

Jane Sutter became deputy editorial page editor in June 2009. She also has served as managing editor and general manager/custom content at the Democrat and Chronicle. She writes editorials on many topics, with a focus on health and education, helps plan and edit copy on the Editorial and Speaking Out pages, oversees the Board of Contributors and assists Editorial Page editor James Lawrence in managing the department. She has worked as a reporter or editor for newspapers in Iowa, Illinois, Florida, South Carolina and Elmira, where she was executive editor of the Star-Gazette. She recently received her master’s degree in media management from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them.

Brian Tumulty has worked in the Gannett Washington Bureau since 1992, first as a national business writer and then as a regional reporter for newspapers in New York, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. A native of the New York City borough of Queens, he attended high school on Long Island and college in the Bronx. He has four children and one granddaughter.